1024 Tasting Notes

I think this tea was too subtle for me. I kept thinking that maybe I taste lemon, or maybe there is some sweetness, or maybe a malty note. I had no trouble drinking it. It just didn’t impress me too much.

This tea is outstanding. I knew it would be given that North Winds is the base, but I’m still impressed with the layers of flavor here. The sip starts out mildly fruity and then morphs into dark chocolate and sweet vanilla with a bit of a crusty bread note. Every now and then there is a hint of cocoa. It’s not bitter but a deeper chocolate note than the dark chocolate. It’s so good, and even though there are all of these heavy flavors the body of the tea manages to stay light which I find charming. As the tea cools I get another hint of the fruity, cherry like note. Love, love, love it.

I had this tea earlier today. My Harney order arrived, and that combined with the Unflavored Traveling Tea Box has put me in tea heaven. Angels singing and everything.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve had this tea, but it is as good as I remember. Wonderful vanilla and caramel flavors with the bergamot giving the tea a shininess that is down right delightful. I’m so glad this one is back in my cupboard.

MzPriss wrote a tea note earlier today saying this tea took her to her happy place. Since she was kind enough to add some of this to the tea box I thought I’d give it a try and see if it took me to a happy place, too.

Whoa… this is crazy good. MzPriss recommended a 7 minute steep, but I wussed out at 4 minutes after doing a quick rinse. The resulting liquor was very dark and the smell was earthy. The first few sips I drank plain. The taste was unsweetened cocoa and earth with maybe a hint of something nutty in the aftertaste. After adding a bit of sweetener I tasted dark chocolate and stone-fruit. There was still some of the earthy flavor and a definite nuttiness in the aftertaste. Like I said, crazy good.

I did a second steep of the leaves for 8 minutes. It was longer than I intended, but I wasn’t as worried this time. Since I was experimenting I added sugar and milk to my cup. Now I taste chocolate and caramel. As the tea cools I get more of the earthy, kind of spicy notes in the tea.

So, here is another tea I’m going to buy. This tea is begging to be experimented with. I want to try much shorter steeps, very long first steeps, all day sessions… this is a tea of wonderful possibilities.

The UTTB arrived today, and after much oohing and ahhing at the amazing teas I get to taste I chose this one as my starting point. I’ve never tried a tea from Vietnam before, and SOT’s description of it intrigued me.

This tea is good. Very good. The color of the infused tea is a medium amber, and the smell is a mix of spice and leather. It’s an appealing and very comforting smell. It makes me think of a nice study with deep leather chairs to curl up in while reading. The taste also has a hint of cinnamon as well as some malt. It’s not as malty as an Assam, but there are similarities. There are also notes of raisin as the tea cools a bit which I’m really enjoying. I also like how full this tea is. It has a thickness and a richness to it that makes me want to stop everything and just enjoy it. I think this could be either a breakfast or an afternoon tea, but I see myself reaching for it more in the afternoon when I’m really needing a nice tea break.

Well, if this is any indicator of the kinds of teas I’m going to be drinking for the next few days then I am a luck girl. This tea is going on my shopping list.

Preparation

Tea of the morning. I’ve been drinking cups and cups of this as the weather gets warmer. It’s has a great coconut flavor, just a hint of pineapple, and then the buttery flavor of the Oolong. The combination makes for a great summer tea.

I was in a Darjeeling mood, and this one was in arm’s reach. Lovely sweet dry hay flavor with muscatel notes following. Even though this is a blend I’m liking it more and more (I usually get all starry eyed over First Flushes). It steeps up beautifully at a lower temperature allowing the flavors to really come out and play.

Preparation

Another nice cup of this one. I added some sweetener and milk which helped to make a good tea even better. I think once I run out of this, which will be soon, I’ll try a few other vanilla teas to see how those flavors stand up to this one. Going back to this one won’t be a problem if I don’t find another vanilla tea that absolutely knocks my socks off.

Well, today went downhill quickly. In fact, I decided rather than bang my head against a wall I’m going to to give myself the day off (something I rarely do). Maybe I’ll post some notes that have been sitting in my queue, or maybe I’ll sit around and read others’ notes. Regardless, there will be much drinking of tea today because tea makes me happy, and life is too damn short to be unhappy over things I can’t control.

Speaking of tea, this tea rocks. It’s all rich dark chocolate with wonderful bready notes and honey at the finish. Yum. The second steep has the same flavors of the first with a slightly stronger biscuity flavor. Again, yum.

Thanks you, Whispering Pines, for adding this sample to my last order. One more tea that I love!

Tea of the morning. I had two cups of this. The first was mostly cocoa and malt notes with some rich raisin flavor popping out as the tea cooled. The second cup still had the malty notes, but there was also leather with a sweet honey finish. Both cups were excellent and a great start to the day.

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100-95 = Teas I actively seek out and keep in my pantry. If you are a guest in my home chances are I will offer you one or all of these teas. Also, if/when these teas are discontinued I openly mourn their loss.

94-85 = Teas I truly like, often have in my pantry, and sometimes restock. These are my variety-is-the-spice-of-life teas.